Many-fruited beardless moss  (Weissia multicapsularis)

Some species of moss are described as 'ephemeral', meaning they exist at a site for a relatively short time - perhaps 3 to 4 years - before disappearing from that site and cropping up elsewhere. These mosses are able to spread their spores, the moss equivalent of seeds, over some distance. Weissia multicapsularis may be unable to do this although a more critical factor may be that the spores do not land on bare ground with precisely the right conditions to allow germination. Where it does colonise, however, the moss may persist at some of its sites for many years.